A global leader in freight forwarding and logistics was searching for an energy efficient heating and cooling solution for its approx. 300,000 m2 logistics center in northern Denmark. The company teamed up with longtime Danfoss OEM partner, Energy Machines and Danfoss to implement a sustainable heating and cooling system using 100% renewable energy.
The challenge
Decarbonizing heating and cooling
Like many Danfoss customers, this logistics company has set ambitious climate targets, including decarbonizing its operations by 2050. The development of its logistic center presented an ideal opportunity to design an environmentally friendly heating and cooling system.
The challenge was to develop an energy system capable of meeting the logistic center’s substantial heating (4.9 MW) and cooling (2.2 MW) demands, while minimizing the facility’s environmental impact and operational costs.
The solution
Leveraging the earth’s natural thermal storage for efficient and eco-friendly heating and cooling
The logistics company selected a geothermal integrated energy solution using an Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) system, designed by Energy Machines. During the summer, the system pumps groundwater up to cool the buildings via heat exchangers, storing the absorbed heat in the aquifer. During the winter, the process is reversed, and the heat exchangers absorb stored heat to heat the buildings.
Seven Energy Machines™ EMT heat pumps, equipped with Danfoss Turbocor® oil-free compressors, efficiently transfer and boost this heat, maintaining optimal indoor temperatures year-round. In addition to the compressors, Energy Machines used a wide range of pre-configured Danfoss component solutions for the heat pumps to ensure seamless integration and optimal performance. The result is a system that can meet the logistic center’s heating and cooling needs, while significantly reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions.
This project is a good example of how sector coupling can work on a small scale. Companies can apply the same system to varying temperature control purposes in the same facility, recovering heat from one process and storing and using that energy to maintain the temperature control requirements of that same or a neighboring facility. This approach can work for companies that don’t have the possibility to feed it back into a district energy grid, where they still can benefit from capturing and reusing excess heat within their facility.
The results
The ATES system provides heating with a COP of 3.7-4.5 and cooling with a COP of 50, ensuring minimal electricity consumption. This translates to significant energy savings and supports the company’s sustainability objectives.
In addition to showcasing the potential for renewable energy solutions in large-scale logistic operations, this project highlights how companies of all sizes can benefit from sector coupling.
Fact box: Did you know?
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About Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES): In cooling season, the system pumps groundwater up from the ‘cold well’ to cool the buildings via heat exchangers, storing the absorbed heat in the aquifer through the 2nd well. The process is reversed during heating season – The heat exchangers absorb stored heat from the ‘hot well’ to heat the buildings. The wells are switched annually to recharge depleted well energy. |
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